Keep Your Friends Close: A gripping psychological thriller full of shocking twists you won’t see coming
in the end, had got Louie off her back and she could never forget that either.
The money she had received today from her mother’s accountant would certainly change things. Almost a million pounds was going to make a huge difference to her life. It meant that she no longer had to scrounge off Mel for one thing, and she could pay her own way with Aaron too. At the moment, he picked up the tab for practically everything, but this enormous sum of money would set them on equal terms. No longer feeling like she had something to prove just because of her age. Plus Aaron had a tendency to spoil her. Take this birthday treat for instance, whatever it was, it wasn’t necessary. Karin had grown up with wealth and status and found it loveless and cold. Not that she wasn’t grateful. Scraping away at the very bottom of human existence had taught her what it was really like to be hungry and afraid. So she could fully appreciate this lifeline that she had been thrown. And to think that she had once been homeless, yet could now afford to buy a place of her own, was mind-blowing.
Karin actually wanted to tell Birgitta these things, to say thank you, but she knew that wouldn’t be possible. Her life would be over just as soon as she made contact again.
Pushing aside this regret, but with a giddiness in her stomach, Karin looked out at the dramatic Pennine sky and the outline of Manchester beginning to take shape in the distance. She thought she understood now what Mel was trying to say. This was a pivotal moment, a chance for an even better Karin to flourish, to be totally independent and self-sufficient.
A golden opportunity, and Karin did not intend to squander it.
After a few more moments of reflection, she was convinced that she had found the perfect solution. Turning to Aaron again she began to study him with the same intensity as before. What was to stop her from having her independence, but with Aaron as her husband? They could buy a place together, build a joint future, while still pursuing their own individual goals. Isn’t that what people did?
Don’t rush, take your time, don’t let him hurry you.
If she said ‘no’ or ‘not just yet’, she might lose him. And she loved him. Because Aaron didn’t make her feel like she was on that runaway train.
Even if she still was.
The lanes of traffic filed past and slowed down on the M62, the same cars repeating the same pattern in the roadworks. Karin’s phone was resting on her lap. Its sudden ping brought her out of her reverie. When she saw what Mel had sent her, she laughed. A photo of Will tucking into a plate of pasta, and a message:
BOTH OKAY.
HOPE YOU ARE TOO.
LOVE MEL & WILL
XX
If Mel had chosen to walk by that night after tripping over her outstretched legs, as she sat in her usual spot under the damp stone ceiling of the Dark Arches, Karin might not even be here now. She knew she looked and smelt like rotting garbage, a stinking heap cluttering up the pavement, yet something in Mel had made her stop. She had bent down to ask her name, wrapped a scarf around her neck and given her gloves to put over her freezing fingers, white and numb at the ends. Then she began asking questions: Why was Karin in such a state? How had it come to this?
Some people bothered to do that.
When Mel reached her limit, Karin watched her go, calling, ‘You have a nice night.’ That’s what happened: she was used to it. So twenty minutes later, to see her returning with piping hot coffee and a cheeseburger, seemed like a miracle. Mel also gave her money for a hostel, making Karin promise that she would be sure to find one. Karin didn’t let on that it was too late for that night, but she did use the money for the following one.
‘Is this where I can find you?’ she enquired before abandoning her to the cold again. Karin remembered that question had made her laugh, sitting in this gloomy Victorian tunnel under the railway station, full of shadows, and thunderous noises from above.
‘Yes, this is my current address,’ she replied. ‘The Dark Arches, Leeds.’
A couple of days later Mel came back to see her, took her to lunch in a greasy-spoon, where Karin ate like an abandoned dog. They chatted for a while and when she had finished eating, Mel offered her the spare room in the house that she was renting. ‘It’s in Headingley,’ she said, as if Karin might actually care. ‘Look I can’t bear to see a young girl like you out here on the streets. It’s not right.’
Mel’s kindness stretched beyond the initial trial period of a couple of nights. If Karin could find herself a job, then she was welcome to stay. In the meantime, she let her off paying rent and Karin did some volunteering with the homeless charity, helping out with the Love an Empty scheme. Eventually they asked her to manage the project on Ashby Road. It paid next to nothing and she still couldn’t contribute very much, but Karin always promised to repay Mel.
‘In a year’s time, I should be back on my feet. When I turn twenty-two.’
Mel always said it didn’t matter about paying her back, just to contribute as soon as she was able. That’s why today had felt particularly special. Although Karin did consider giving her more than five thousand pounds, she appreciated that Mel would probably be insulted if she did. However, it bothered Karin that she hadn’t been a terribly good housemate in return, spending most of her time at Aaron’s place rather than in Headingley. So Karin had decided to make it up to her with flowers, meals out, extravagant presents instead; more Mel’s style in any case. Starting next week, she would take her to the new Swank restaurant that had opened down on The Calls. Mel said the other day how much she would love to go there, but could never afford it.
A few months after moving in, she was introduced to Aaron and they had started going out together. It still gave Karin a flutter in her stomach thinking about that, even now. He had come round to fix a temperamental dishwasher – the very same – and an instant spark had fired up between them. Mel teased Karin relentlessly, but without holding back on her concerns over his age. She clearly believed it would fizzle out soon enough. It hadn’t though, which left Karin feeling somewhat guilty.
‘You don’t know anyone who’d be suitable for Mel, do you?’ she asked, twirling her hair round her finger. Aaron’s laughter surprised her, but then she realized the question had come from nowhere. ‘No, I’m serious though. You must know some decent men out of all your work contacts, surely. It’s not like she’s unattractive.’ He gave her a rather noncommittal half-shrug. ‘It’s just I feel bad sometimes about her sitting in the house on her own, when I’m out all the time with you. Hardly see her these days and she’s been so kind to me.’ Aaron gave her another shrug, implying that wasn’t Karin’s problem. ‘You know what she did for me, Aaron.’
‘I’ll have a think.’
She leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.
‘Can’t promise anything, mind,’ he added.
‘No, I know. But she deserves someone nice, that’s all.’
Perhaps Mel’s problem was that she was too good-natured, and people took advantage. Karin was aware that Mel dabbled in internet dating from time to time, but without any success as far as she could make out, and Mel had hinted at some difficult scenarios, people in it for the wrong reasons.
Aaron accelerated and at last they were moving again. Karin turned to him and smiled, sinking her head into the headrest with thoughts of how much she had come to love him these past months and how fortunate she was to have found him.
He was wearing well for a man in his mid-forties, a full head of brown hair, and a pretty good physique through playing squash and sessions at the gym. Not handsome as such, but he had a face that